What’s Cooking? Foodie Favorites & Recipes

The weekends are my big baking and cooking times. I save a little cash and calories by doing most of my goody-making on the weekends so we aren’t eating too many flour-based treats during the week. Here are a few favorite recipes I have been making recently:

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

The bread I had been buying for my kids and husband was discontinued at out local store and it was pretty expensive ($4 a loaf), so I decided to make bread for them instead of buying it at the store. I have been using this 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread recipe from King Arthur Flour and using the Prairie Gold flour from Wheat Montana. This bread is easy to make for me (I only let it rise once in the loaf pans so it’s faster), and my husband and kids love it! It stays moist, slices great, and freezes well. I have been making about 2 loaves a week, freezing one loaf until the first one is finished to keep it fresh. I don’t have celiac so there is little concern in our house about cross-contamination with wheat.

Cocoa Cashew Pretzel Bites

I love protein bites! I made up a batch of Lindsay’s Cocoa Cashew Pretzel bites with a few changes. I used crushed rice Chex instead of pretzels, ground sunflower seeds in place of the cashews, and I used a mix of hemp powder and sacha inchi powder for the protein powder. So yummy!

Triple Chocolate Doughnuts (GF & Vegan)

On Valentine’s Day, my daughter’s teacher wanted to get a special treat for her students so she bought doughnuts. She let me know ahead of time, so Valentine’s morning I whipped up a batch of Triple Chocolate Doughnuts from Oh She Glows. I made them without the chocolate chips, replaced the almond flour with ground sunflower seeds, used rice milk, and I made my own doughnut glaze following this recipe from Alton Brown. These were perfect! I haven’t had doughnuts in a while so these were amazing 🙂

Have you tried the Pumpkin Pie Larabar yet? So good!

Nutritious Muffins

One of my favorite treats is muffins! I have always loved the Nutritious Muffin recipe from Bob’s Red Mill, and I am working on an allergy-friendly version. They turned out fantastic! I need to make some adjustments before I post my version, but I love these muffins. I try to make a big batch and freeze half for the week ahead for quick post-workout snacks or lunch-box treats for my kids.

Protein Granola Bars

I took these gluten-free granola bars and made them higher protein: I replaced some of the flour with protein powder (in my case lately it has been sacha inchi powder), replaced the oil with almond butter, used Swerve in place of the sugar, and made some liquid adjustments. They turned out great!

Smoked Chicken and Smoked Sweet Potatoes

It’s really unfortunate I never got photos of these! This past weekend we went to a shift party for my husband’s work and we brought smoked chicken and we made smoked mashed sweet potatoes. Yep – we smoked the sweet potatoes! It is the the most amazing thing ever! For the chickens we soaked them in this brine recipe over-night before smoking with a combination of apple and cherry wood. For the smoked sweet potatoes, we simply washed them and placed them unwrapped in the smoker and smoked until tender, then peeled them and mashed them. So perfect! I may never eat a regular sweet potato again 😉

Mongolian Beef (or Venison)

I am in love with this Mongolian Beef recipe from The Iron You! It tastes amazing, and my whole family loves it. Instead of soy sauce I use 1/4 cup fish sauce and 3/4 cup water. I simmer the sauce while I’m cooking the meat, and it’s turns out perfect! We didn’t go hunting this past season, but we were blessed by friends who gave us some venison. It’s healthy, grass-fed (and sage fed) meat if you don’t mind the mild gaminess.

OmniBar

Speaking of meat, I have been reviewing a savory protein bar called OmniBar (*I received Omnibars for free). These energy bars are made in my home state of Montana, and they are created with whole foods like beef, oats, sweet potatoes, dried fruit, and nuts. The oats in them aren’t gluten-free so I have to watch how much of them I eat, but these are a nice change of pace from sweet energy bars. They come in savory flavors like Chipotle Barbecue, Cranberry Rosemary, Mango Curry, and Roasted Peanut. I actually like these (my husband isn’t a fan), and I will be posting a review soon.

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Oh man, I miss eggs! They taste so good but definitely don't like me either. Meat is definitely a staple in our house, that's one reason our grocery bill is high (aside from the allergy-friendly food).